Over the weekend, TMZ reported on the death of former child star Aaron Carter, who was found unresponsive in his California home after appearing to have drowned in his bathtub.
Possible causes are still under investigation, but many have guessed his passing is related to drug use. The 34-year-old singer was outspoken about his struggles with addiction and mental health. Only a few weeks before his passing, he took to social media to celebrate being 5 years clean from hard drugs, clarifying that he remains “California sober.”
Just days before news broke of his death, he appeared for a final interview with Adam22 on the No Jumper podcast with some choice words directed at Kanye West. Carter called Ye "stupid as f—" and broke, and even quipped that “there's a reason why Kim left you.” These ugly remarks about Ye likely came from a place of inner turmoil, which was clear in Carter’s disjointed manner of speech.
At the risk of sounding conspiratorial, there is something to the speculation that Carter’s passing could reveal a bad omen for Hollywood. Unverified rumors of foul play aside, what is publicly known about Aaron Carter’s untimely death certainly should raise some eyebrows.
Aaron Carter’s history of drug abuse following child stardom adds momentum to Kanye’s recent bombshell Tweet in which he claimed he had been “drugged out of my mind to make me a manageable well behaved celebrity” under the supervision of personal trainer Harley Pasternak.
The screenshot Ye posted showed a text conversation in which Pasternak threatened to “have you institutionalized again where they medicate the crap out of you, and you go back to Zombieland forever. Play date with the kids just won’t be the same.” That doesn’t sound like a text sent by a mere fitness coach, does it?
Despite the vitriol Carter aimed at Ye, the troubled star’s early passing only bolsters the message Kanye is imperfectly amplifying through his chaotic Tweets: celebrities are often forced into a constant state of anxiety and exhaustion, which makes them more susceptible to substance abuse and to control and coercion behind the scenes.
Whether celebrities take drugs of their own volition or take them as prescribed by professional handlers with nefarious intentions, it results in the same mind-numbing effect. Being stuck in what Harley Pasternak called “zombieland” makes celebrities malleable to the whims of studios, record labels, and managers who directly profit off of their lack of agency.
